Mental Health is a topic in which more people are understanding it's importance in today's society. However, I believe a topic that is overlooked is mental health in sport. Ranging from top athletes, to armature people who play sport on weekends, people in each category suffer. Studies show that people who play sport at a young age, live a longer life whilst also gaining positive psychological experiences. Sport is amazing. It can allow you to open up as a person and express yourself freely. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. A graph recently posted by the NCAA shows that in 4 different sport categories Female athletes are more likely to develop depressive symptoms after a track run or a football match, than Male athletes are. So, why is that? Well we do not fully know, but I have brought this up to highlight the issue. In today's world we live in there is thankfully websites and organizations that their sole purpose is to help people using the methods of sport. Sport England and Sport Wales are two amazing examples.
https://www.sport.wales/beactivewales-campaign/mental-health-and-wellbeing/
https://www.sportengland.org/

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be interesting for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józef, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

First time taker here and was finishing up my 3L year. Just graduated May ‘24 and was an out of state test taker for Texas. Studied for 5 weeks and passed the Texas Bar and did about 200 hours on BarBri. For me, the issue with the Bar was learning and remembering the law and so I focused on the barbri lectures and MC.
MEE/MPT
I did not write out a single MEE as writing has never been an issue. I’m assuming most people in law school can write well and thus the issue with the essays are issue spotting and knowing the black letter law. This is why I focused on LEARNING the law through the lectures and MC questions instead of wasting hours writing essays. Something I found helpful was looking up the model questions and then reading the selected answers. This gave me an idea of how to structure my essays and see what the examiners liked.
For the MPT, all I did was watch BarMD free video on YouTube and then I read the library portion of a sample MPT to get a feel for issue spotting. One thing I found helpful during the exam was that I would read the cases first and immediately type out the Rules into the test document. I would then just copy and paste the rules when needed which saved me a ton of time as I didn’t have to re-read the case etc. Ultimately, the MPT is all about time management as we all have learned how to issue spot by being in law school.
MBE:
I don’t really know what to say other than just to study. Do a ton of MC to get familiar with the format and also to help get exposed to the more nuanced areas of the law. I did some BarBri MC but what I found helpful were the MC questions from the ncbe themselves. They are fairly cheap and well worth it as they come from the source themselves and are how the questions on the bar are worded. Now, these MC’s by the ncbe are on the easier side but they give you a feel for the formatting of the Q’s. I also just hated Barbri questions which is probably why I liked the ncbe Q’s so much.
Overall, don’t stress about not studying enough/ not completing your course. A lot of the bar prep courses allot a ton of time to writing essays for every subject and for writing MPTs. Personally, I’m a believer that if you know the law then the MEE’s won’t be bad and thus just focus your time on learning the law and practicing the MC Q’s.
Hope this is helpful

To preface one thing - this is in Singapore, I am half singaporean and half thai, I have no close friends or family members around here, but I study here.
So after many years of dating and many quite one sided and manipulative relationships with guys and after 3 months of being single I finally got into relationship with my GF. First time trying lesbian dynamic. I felt it would be very different, she would understand me more and was less demanding of me and of course less physical and simply more harmonious, since, you know it's a fellow woman.
I was also taking it slow and we had like dozen dates before getting entangled officially couple months ago. She is quite lovely and well educated, slightly older than me, somewhat exotic looking around here and it felt we are becming good friends.
When we finally hooked up she had to guide me a lot because it's indeed quite different dynamic than with a guy but that was fine, I guess and she seemed to even enjoyed and would joke about how I was lesbian virgin and she can shape me to be suited for her. Which I thought at the time was cute.
Long story short I recently finally moved in with her and that was a mistake. I've been at her place most of the time we would hang out because my place was really tiny. Right after I moved in I was just in a span of week introduced to basically a laundry list of chores I should do and at the time I thought alright we pull this together right, but we didn't. After next couple weeks I realised (for the first time ever) that I am doing the same chores I would be doing for my former boyfriends and I started to feel, yet again, more as a maid with benefits. This time I had courage to voice that to my GF and she would apologise and be all sweet about how she didn't realise and that would coo me for another week, but no changes would actually happen. Only now I think it's been manipulative.
Since I am a university student and a "gym bunny" I have less free time than one would expect and suddenly it was filled mostly by coming home doing chores before going to gym and then coming from gym and my GF would be still up and then she would be demanding for attention, mostly in bedroom. This is when I've also noticed that while guiding me in bedroom she never seemed eager to pleasure me in return unless I would specifically ask and so for days I tried not to ask and suddenly it was super one sided bedroom stuff and she seemed perfectly fine with that. That stung because it immedaitelly reminded me of my last 3 boyfriends where it was the same.
I held a lot of this in, trying to keep being disciplined and do all she'd like me to do and chores and everything more and better in hopes of her seeing more value in me. But it simply didn't happen, not over course of two plus weeks.
Well this weekend I was using her ipad, where she always logged off out of all social and communication apps when she wasn't using. I always thought it's a like... internet safety thing in case the device gets hacked or something. But this time her whatsapp and wechat was logged in and I simply discovered that while I am at school and she's "working" from home she's hooking up at least once a week with guys. Or at least mostly with guys I wasn't in the mood to read into too much detail, seeing texts of your presumeably loved sending very intimite and heartfelt texts to guys and reacting to their D pics and sending stuff back... I felt betrayed but so far I haven't said anything and the routine contiues to my own detrement.
From doing gymnastics on higher level for 10+ years I'm used to some discipline and manners that would now be probably consider abuse, but what I learnt from that was to be quiet a lot not to cause conflict and please people. Despite my previous relationships with guys being basically abusive it was eventually always them to dump me, I never had the guts to do it yet (not counting middle school lol). This time I recognize the problem and I would like to end things but at the same time I moved too soon (in hindsight) and have nowhere to go at the moment.
And so for weeks I felt like maid and for 4-5 days now I feel more like bang maid who's also stupid and naive and I couldn't contemplate a good .. like escape plan, that's why I am making this post. In the meanwhile I continue the same old routine unable to almost meet my GF's eyes, yet she seem strangely not noticing any change and looking quite happy. On top of that you probably can guess how I feel being at school, knowing there's a decent change she's out hooking up. It just all crushing my selfesteem yet I feel stuck in the routine and my head.
TLDR: GF is cheating, doesn't know I know, because I am scared to confront her since I have nowhere to go if I'd move out.

I want to develop a character who has DID derived from PTSD, which in turn arose from a four-day period of suffering different atrocities. The character has no explicit memories of this four-day period, but their subconscious locks it away to avoid the pain of trauma and develops disorders as a defense mechanism. In addition to the mentioned disorders, the character has developed a refusal to eat food due to an apparently irrational line of thought and sensation that if they eat, they would be hypocritical for something, and therefore, more guilty. The character has 5 personalities. So far, I've only been able to conceptualize 3: the assistant, the machine, and the monster.
The monster is the murderous and harmful personality. It's what the character most instinctively tries to avoid manifesting, even if they don't know exactly why. It's the embodiment of their potential evil, and its appearances are always accompanied by tension and suspense. Even if not actually manifested (or is it?), the mere fact of appearing in nightmares and hallucinations already triggers panic attacks in the character. This is the most mysterious personality because the character has doubts about the nature of this personality that doesn't offer many explanations beyond the simple fact that it knows everything about him and is playing and affecting him; Is it a personality or a distinct demon? Is it a delusion or is it real? Is it himself or a separate being pretending to be him to scare him? Is it capable of killing the personalities, and if so, why doesn't it do it immediately instead of leaving the personalities unharmed? Why psychologically torture him if the function of fragmented personalities is to help in self-preservation? If it's real, why does it let him escape at the end of its ''games''? This personality (or not) is physically the largest, the most technological, the most inhuman, and presents more feats of strength despite appearing less, all geared towards psychological torture mainly, a literal kind of haunting like Pennywise's. It wreaks psychological havoc on the character in each of its personalities, and the most sensitive one, which is the one the other personalities most try to avoid being impacted by the monster, is the assistant personality, the personality that personifies human essence and, being based on the Superego and Ego and reflecting the distant past spent with his deceased good mother whose values were transmitted in his childhood and adolescence, is the personality that tries to maintain order, predominate, and reunite the fragmented personalities, although this self-imposed role is not easy and it is difficult to deal with the fear of what could happen if people found out that he and the other four 'people' are actually the same person who has DID; it is difficult to represent order while his other parts are more inclined to chaos and there is no direct interaction between the personalities. The assistant personality has blindness, whose degree varies depending nuancemente on the external and internal security situation it feels, but is always present because it results from an unresolved trauma. Glasses are used, the only one who does this. Blindness is more present in the assistant personality and less manifested in the other personalities because they are more detached from humanity. The assistant personality is the most divergent from what the character was before DID. Its form is more human, shorter, and less cybernetic, precisely because it reflects a distant period from the current one of the character. (A side note: the character is, in a way, a shapeshifter, so its personalities have a distinct form, some more similar to each other and others less similar, and vice versa. The metamorphosis is restricted to the forms the character has already had in its life and afterlife, and those forms it did not have are a more adapted version of the personality concept). The assistant is the most sensitive personality and the one that most tries to be virtuous, and because of these characteristics, it is the most vulnerable to the monster.
The machine personality is the psychological barrier. A wall for any emotions. An internal shield for trauma. It looks like a robot, like a machine, both for sentimental and behavioral issues. It does not feel emotions, is extremely rational, and is very connected to technology. Indeed, it is the most technological personality in the purest sense of the word, while the monster personality is the most technological in the most monstrous sense. Its function is to offer a more impartial view of situations and, because of the monster, to be the most solid shield for the assistant personality not to be haunted directly (and possibly killed) by the monster.
There are 2 more personalities to develop, and I'm working on it since it's a new idea I had.
The character is Vox.
The conceptual ideas for this fanfic that I intend to create, combined with my hobby of self-studying psychology/psychoanalysis/psychiatry, made me realize that I attribute four disorders to Vox:
• DID: According to the DSM-5 criteria, to be considered DID it is necessary: ▪︎Two or more distinct identities or personality states are present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self. ▪︎Amnesia must occur, defined as gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events. ▪︎The person must be distressed by the disorder or have trouble functioning in one or more major life areas because of the disorder. ▪︎The disturbance is not part of normal cultural or religious practices. ▪︎The symptoms cannot be due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general medical condition (such as complex partial seizures).
• PTSD: Symptoms of PTSD fall into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity.
Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event. Flashbacks may be so vivid that people feel they are reliving the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes. Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it. Alterations in cognition and mood: Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the event leading to wrongly blaming self or other; ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling detached or estranged from others; or being unable to experience positive emotions (a void of happiness or satisfaction). Alterations in arousal and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one's surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping. Many people who are exposed to a traumatic event experience symptoms similar to those described above in the days following the event. For a person to be diagnosed with PTSD, however, symptoms must last for more than a month and must cause significant distress or problems in the individual's daily functioning. Many individuals develop symptoms within three months of the trauma, but symptoms may appear later and often persist for months and sometimes years. PTSD often occurs with other related conditions, such as depression, substance use, memory problems and other physical and mental health problems.
The four tabs below provide brief descriptions of four conditions related to PTSD: acute stress disorder, adjustment disorder, disinhibited social engagement disorder, and reactive attachment disorder. Source: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd • Psychotic Depression: Psychotic depression Some people who have severe depression may also experience hallucinations and delusional thinking, the symptoms of psychosis.
Depression with psychosis is known as psychotic depression.
Symptoms of depression Someone with depression feels sad and hopeless for most of the day, practically every day, and has no interest in anything. Getting through the day feels almost impossible.
Other typical symptoms of depression may include:
fatigue (exhaustion) disturbed sleep changes in appetite feeling worthless and guilty being unable to concentrate or being indecisive thoughts of death or suicide Doctors describe depression as mild, moderate or severe depending on your symptoms, how long it lasts and how much it affects your daily life.
Read more about the psychological, physical and social symptoms of clinical depression
Symptoms of psychosis Having moments of psychosis (when people lose some contact with reality) means experiencing:
delusions – thoughts or beliefs that are unlikely to be true hallucinations – hearing and, in some cases, feeling, smelling, seeing or tasting things that are not there; hearing voices is a common hallucination The delusions and hallucinations almost always reflect the person's deeply depressed mood – for example, they may become convinced they're to blame for something, or that they've committed a crime.
"Psychomotor agitation" is also common. This means not being able to relax or sit still, and constantly fidgeting.
At the other extreme, a person with psychotic depression may have "psychomotor retardation", where both their thoughts and physical movements slow down.
People with psychotic depression have an increased risk of thinking about suicide. Source for more information: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/psychotic-depression/
• An as-yet unidentified eating disorder: This is the only one in which I do not know which exact diagnosis it fits into. It is a consequence of the trauma from the four-day period - including this period being one of the biggest mysteries in history and a great source of theories for readers, as it is the root of Vox's psychological mess, the divergence point that originated the entire fanfic and which the protagonist DOES NOT want to remember - that resulted in the trauma of eating. He does not feel like eating, not even the SIN OF GLUTTONY is able to make him eat - he is immune to her powers - and feels an apparently inexplicable instinct of guilt and hypocrisy when trying to eat, as if he were the worst being in the universe if he ate a food and a huge hypocrite; why and what exactly this innate thought of judging himself as a hypocrite is another mystery in the plot.
In this story, at least in the initial arcs, no one associates all five as being the same person, at most they associate only one/two of them with Vox. With the climaxes (yes, it's in the plural) throughout the story, the characters will find evidence and suspect and associate more and more of the other alters (as I call Vox's fragmented personalities) with the same person, which increases the narrative tension. Being the assistant personality the last to be accurately associated by the other characters, although she was the one that had the most tension and care in NOT being associated throughout the story because she is the human essence of Vox, reflects more the fragility of his soul state and is not ready to deal with the harsh social consequences that the actions of the other alters and Vox before DID caused, needing solid support and not wanting to lose all the friendly social relationships, although fragile, that he built as a separate being from Vox and the other alters. It is easier to hate than to love. The assistant personality does not want to risk losing the little support he has built. These relationships are extremely valuable to him. He doesn't want to have this taken away from him anymore. The relationships he built are based on the inhabitants of Hazbin Hotel.
All alters have Vox's trademark: the TV as
a head. All... except the assistant personality. This alter is the ONLY one that has a human head and is the smallest, being even a few centimeters smaller than Lucifer. The size of his hair goes up to just above his shoulders, but he ties them in a professional hairstyle. His clothes are similar to those of an assistant, and they have a palette of blue, black, and white colors. The color of his hair, influenced by his powers as a Media Demon, is black with dark blue streaks and tips.
His human appearance reflects a period when Vox was human. In my story Vox is a trans man, which means he was born female and went through a transition at some point in his adolescence or adulthood. The appearance of the assistant personality reflects an episode during his 13/14 years. In this episode, he did a special show for his father's assistant at a fancy restaurant. It was her last night in his life as she would unfortunately be sent away without a chance to return, and he was aware of this. He also knew that his father was responsible for her being sent away, although his innocence at the time made him not immediately detect that she would be KILLED by a hired hitman hired by the father and mother. The assistant was a loved one by the teenage Vox. She was a loving mother he never had, and because of the emotional attachment to her, he decided to do a musical show, showing for the first and last time to anyone his talent for piano and violin. He, at the time still not going through the transition, dressed more masculinely, used the best appearance he could, and used a pseudonym to enter the restaurant and make the presentation without being detected by the family. He did not explicitly specify for whom the music was intended, but the assistant, secretly his true biological mother, knew it was for her. That was the last time he would see her, and he made every second of that night count.
Vox's human female name was Elizabeth. I chose this name because it is a beautiful name, it was the name of the former queen of the United Kingdom, and it was the name of one of Jack the Ripper's victims, Elizabeth Stride.
Vox, during his adult life as a man and even post-death, buried his past as a woman. It was not a source of pride, especially for the family abuses suffered and the transphobia of the time. If the Vees, the people closest to him currently, do not have a deep understanding of Vox's human life as a man, imagine their knowledge of the initial part of his life before the transition!
That's why being called "Elizabeth" during the direct and indirect appearances of the monster personality already causes genuine and unmasked panic in him. It is an indication of knowledge of his deepest layers.
The story has a suspenseful atmosphere, with some horror scenes. We follow the alters individually, and as the story progresses, we realize along with the protagonist some strange, wrong things. The alters do not communicate directly with each other and, therefore, the character does not immediately perceive the signs of having multiple personalities. It was as if there were four people in one body and none of them noticed, according to the perspective of the assistant personality, the alter that we slowly follow discovering the huge web of the situation he's in. There's something very wrong with Vox, more specifically his soul. But there's an invisible barrier that prevents the character from investigating further, like an elephant in the middle of the room. Each alter has its own course, all acting as if they were distinct people and not associating with each other. This is bad socially speaking in the long run, because sooner or later the clash of beliefs and values built among the alters will come into conflict and the individual consequences of their actions will negatively impact each other. The monster personality served to add more salt to the wound. It is by far the most harmful, appearing little but causing a huge mess in return. Don't think of it as a kind of Hulk, because Hulk is a destructive monster that his counterpart, Bruce, can try to control and turn into a hero, and everyone is aware of Hulk's nature, which is easy to understand and try to contain; whereas the monster personality is an enigma at the same time as it is a nightmare, there is no discussion with it, it causes psychological terror in Vox's alters, its apparently internal actions affect the external world of the alters, it is unpredictable, it is the literal meaning of hell. The monster personality has already caused physical harm to the alters, although they did not exactly remember, mainly the assistant personality, the most oblivious of all for a reason. I want to relate the monster personality to Roo.

(Throwaway just in case) I know it is normal in a relationship to not feel wanted every x time, but I(26F) been suffering recently. He(24M) is been busy with his job, completely understand, but we don't call, he won't ask at all, on my birthday week he had a week off, but he played with his friend 3 times, planned four, that one of them cancelled because I called him because I needed him (we only had one day planned). It was me the one who went to his country, it is me the one who sends daily selfies even if I been studying, he used to be super compassionate, wanting to call me all the time, complimenting me every second, now I feel like he has gotten me so it's enough, or that he made such efforts with his exes that I don't deserve such effort? I don't know. In my case, he's my first boyfriend because I have had severe depression for decades, so it hurts more than my first experiences are now this. Now I feel unwanted, and today, at repeating what he said, he said that 'thank god we have a parrot here."

Hiya!
I'm currently on Study Abroad and there are a couple of Balkans in my class. One of which, whenever I give her a hug (to say hi/bye). She gives me a kiss-ish in the neck.
Just in case I'm overthinking, is this a normal thing Balkans do orrrrr do I need to think more of this?
Thanks a lot in advance! :)

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My laptop's motherboard died and replacing it would probably cost a lot. So, no choice, we have to buy a new one. I am an IT student and most of our courses are online class, and don't have to bring a laptop, so a PC would be ideal for me. Not only that its miles cheaper than a laptop, but it is also way faster, cooler, and does not need to be charged like a laptop. I prefer a PC because I used my old laptop like a PC.
The problem is that I told my mom that the PC I wanna buy has fast performance, great for productivity, and is fine for light gaming. And when she heard 'gaming' she kinda frowned and ask that I should not buy a PC for gaming and should only be for online class. She said that a laptop will be better because it is portable, but I am afraid that she might buy an overpriced $350 Intel Pentium/Celeron-tier laptop on a mall instead because that's what she's been looking for rn.
Here is the build that I wanna buy. It's no high end but it should be fine for my use case(Genshin, Wuthering Waves, Roblox, Farlight, Minecraft) and I can put a gpu when we can afford it:
$350 Brand New
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS TUF Gaming B450M PRO II CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G CPU POWER SUPPLY: MSI MAG A550BN CASE: INPLAY Meteor 03 PC Case Mesh 4x Fans SSD: Lexar NM610 Pro 1TB RAM: Team Elite Plus 2x8GB 3200mHz
My grades are fine and I am studious. My phone is also a gaming phone, so I don't think my gaming hobby will affect my studies. How should I tell her?

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Park Construction of al majaz offered a scenic area for people to enjoy with their families in the heart of sharjah.

Al Marwan Construct, a premier construction firm in the UAE, spearheaded the redevelopment of Al Majaz Sharjah Park and Waterfront project. This initiative aimed to revamp Al Majaz waterfront , Sharjah, into a contemporary recreational destination, featuring a park and waterfront area complete with entertainment and facilities for visitors. The project was successfully delivered on schedule and within budget, facilitated by the extensive heavy equipment rental fleet provided by Al Marwan Heavy Machinery.
Read More: https://almarwan.com/news/100/Al-Marwan-Case-Study-Blog-4-Redeveloping-Al-Majaz-Park-and-Waterfront

Heavy equipment renting in movie production allows many effects enhancing the production. here’s how.

In November 2022, as Nefzer Special Effects GmbH geared up for their upcoming blockbuster shoot, their focus was on crafting mesmerizing visual effects to enthrall audiences. Yet, a hurdle loomed in renting heavy equipment vital for realizing their creative aspirations. Gerd Nefzer, the manager at Nefzer Special Effects, recounted the company’s prior struggles with unreliable machinery from various heavy equipment rent firms in the UAE. It was these challenges that led them to turn to Al Marwan Heavy Machinery for assistance.
Read More: https://almarwan.com/news/96/Al-Marwan-Case-Study-Blog-2-Heavy-Equipment-for-Big-Screen-Blockbusters

Before reading : This is gonna be a more in general post than any particular project related post. I am posting this here since this is where Pycraft Launcher was originally posted. More of a rant post about what happened to me so far and why I haven't been able to work on the project. Since a lot of people were messaging me in the dms about the project, I guess it's time y'all got to know the situation I'm in.
For context : look up https://www.reddit.com/PiratedGames/comments/wsndb0/i_created_a_new_and_open_source_minecraft_launche
So back in 2022 I published what was the final release of Pycraft Launcher from my end, before other people made forks of it and picked up the slack and fixed my errors. I however stated that I will be making another better version of this launcher with many new features, fixes and what not. I went as far as designing a properly working prototype, with said features, (which is sadly lost to time since I switched computers to a better one and formatted my old system). However this is where things take a turn as I joined college (biggest mistake of my life) to pursue Btech in computer science.
The moment my classes started, life went to, well shit.
It was not long before I realised that my college and the board which governs it, is designed to make students fail so that they pay for for retests and paper rechecks. Couple that fact with the one that backlogs (the exams in which you were failed) don't really get cleared (you have a roughly 30% chance of passing), really really messed with my life in 2023 and continues to do so, so much so that I had to drop everything about my projects and work on getting myself out of this jam, but 3 semesters in, I have backlogs in all of them, the subjects in which I am not supposed to fail. Did a lot of research about this and found out that the board purposely does this ( there have been lots of protests and cases against it but to no avail).
Plus I got rejected by my crush but that's character development lol.
Add in the entrance of AI into all this and general panic/confusion/fear mongering took up a good chunk of my mind as well. And the general dread of not being able to make any money as well while my family struggles.
Right now I'm still studying for the current semester, don't know what I will do about the previous ones, don't know whether I'll be able to earn or not, but that's all in my head, I guess.
Regarding the launcher : I do intend to pick up where I left off, but only if I'm able to catch a break from this hellhole. Also I have other projects lined up, which I want to work on but that's from July most probably I guess. Keep an eye out in the PycraftLauncher sub from time to time in case I do manage to post a release of the new launcher.
Also about the current Pycraft launcher, if y'all want to go ahead and use it, you can, I don't know whether it will work with the current version or not, I made it in such a way that it is automatically able to scale with modern versions. But there are better forks of it so be sure to check them out as well.
And I don't like asking this of the readers of this post, but if any one of you can support me a bit a financially(by small donations or such) so that I can get back up on my feet and can allocate resources to work on my projects (mc launcher included), it would be really good. If anyone is interested, please DM me, as posting any such links might get me kicked off this sub.
That's it for now I guess. Take care everyone.

Hey docs.
I am contemplating quitting (since medschool tbh). I (31 yo) am 5 yrs post-grad, no residency, just moonlighting, but on a track to practice abroad (and so close to that goal now). I have thought of quitting for a while now kasi I don’t like the job and I am not happy. So much potential liability. Kahit na sa bahay ka you still think if may nagawa ka bang mali. And so little pay. I also hate that you have to keep on studying and updating yourself with what’s new. And I hate people din. The only thing I sort of like in the job is encountering interesting cases.
What’s holding be back is all the time and effort invested and everyone’s expectations. I realize that’s a sunk-cost fallacy, but still, medyo mahirap pa rin bumitaw. To think I don’t have dependents, no bills to pay, so basically minimal risk, pero medyo naduduwag talaga ako mag-quit altogether. I do have plans on what I can do if I quit.
I’ve heard of people who graduated as doctors and went on with successful nonmedical careers. Now my question is, have you heard of stories of people who quit and regretted their decision? Just want to rule out survivorship bias.

The trade was pick 11 (Justin Fields) from the Giants became Kaderius Toney (pick 20), Aaron Robinson (pick 71, not from the Bears but their 4th rounder became ammo to move up to select here), Evan Neal (pick 7 in 2022), and Daniel Bellinger (pick 112 in 2022).
This is bad enough on its own that Kaderius Toney was reach who is no longer on the team and Evan "Burger Flipping" Neal who many giants fans want off the team. But 1 pick later went Micah Parsons to the Cowboys, a division rival. Rashawn Slater went after Parsons and would objectively help the O-line more than Evan Neal.
This is a weird trade since the Giant traded down, accumulated more Assets and honestly lost worse than had they just grabbed Parsons or Slater.
A interesting case study in the risks of trading down.
Edit: Alright maybe it is not that bad as a draft day trade in terms of value, still I would argue these selections when you add in all the off-field antics and the hate directed towards Kaderius Toney and Evan Neal. Its honestly kind of funny that even when the G-men do the right thing they lose.

i used to be a prodigy. i was good at everything i did and people loved me for it. i was a model student. until few years ago, when the pandemic hit, i quit taking academics seriously. i lagged behind. and when i finally went back to school, i was burned out and so behind from my peers. i could feel how disappointed my teachers were. fast forward to a few months, i had a very important exam that i didn’t study very well for and that reflected on my results. i could take the average score but it was emotionally draining my parents. i could feel it in my skin, how disappointed they were. the face of my father when he saw my results haunted me for days to come. despite the fact that they are still supportive of me, i can tell that it’s not the same anymore. i feel like they don’t love me as much as they used to. even though i know it really isn’t the case, at that moment their love felt conditional to me. i don’t think i can ever talk to my father again. it’s so disturbing. i feel like a burden. though my scores weren’t that bad, i know what he expected of me and i couldn’t fulfill it. i don’t know what to do anymore? help?

A laparoscopic surgeon is a medical professional who specializes in performing surgical procedures using minimally invasive techniques known as laparoscopy. Laparoscopy involves making small incisions in the abdomen through which specialized surgical instruments and a tiny camera (laparoscope) are inserted to visualize and operate on internal organs.

Here's what a laparoscopic surgeon typically does:

1. Preoperative Assessment: Before the surgery, the surgeon will evaluate the patient's medical history, perform a physical examination, and may order diagnostic tests such as imaging studies to assess the condition of the organs requiring surgery.
2. Surgical Planning: Based on the patient's condition, the surgeon will develop a surgical plan outlining the specific procedure and steps involved. They will also discuss the risks, benefits, and possible alternatives with the patient.
3. Anesthesia: During the surgery, the patient will receive anesthesia to ensure they are comfortable and pain-free. Laparoscopic surgeries are usually performed under general anesthesia, although sometimes regional or local anesthesia may be used.
4. Port Placement: The surgeon will make several small incisions (usually less than an inch in length) in the abdominal wall, through which trocars (hollow tubes) are inserted. These serve as entry points for the laparoscope and surgical instruments.
5. Visualization: The laparoscope, equipped with a light source and camera, is inserted through one of the ports to provide a magnified view of the internal organs on a monitor in the operating room. This allows the surgeon to see the surgical site clearly and perform the procedure with precision.
6. Surgical Manipulation: Using specialized instruments inserted through the other ports, the surgeon performs the necessary surgical manipulations, such as cutting, suturing, or removing tissue or organs. Laparoscopic instruments are designed to mimic the movements of the surgeon's hands with enhanced dexterity and control.
7. Closure: Once the procedure is completed, the instruments are removed, and the small incisions are closed with sutures or surgical glue. In some cases, absorbable sutures or adhesive strips may be used.
8. Postoperative Care: After the surgery, the patient is monitored closely in the recovery area to ensure they are stable. The surgeon will provide instructions for postoperative care, including wound care, pain management, and activity restrictions.

Laparoscopic surgery offers several advantages over traditional open surgery, including smaller incisions, reduced postoperative pain, shorter hospital stays, and faster recovery times. It is commonly used for a variety of procedures, including gallbladder removal, appendectomy, hernia repair, and gynecological surgeries like hysterectomy and ovarian cystectomy.